眼 (yǎn): eye
眼 (yǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “eye.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 目 (semantic) and 艮 (phonetic). It ranks #281 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 眼 eye. Its radical form 目 (eye) appears in many related characters such as 看 (kàn, to look, to see), 真 (zhēn, really), 着 (zhe, -ing, to wear).
Definitions
- eye
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 眼 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 眼
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 眼睛noun | yǎn jing | eye | 2 |
| 眼前noun | yǎn qián | before one's eyes | 4 |
| 眼镜noun | yǎn jìng | spectacles | 4 |
| 眼泪noun | yǎn lèi | tear | 5 |
| 眼光noun | yǎn guāng | gaze | 6 |
| 眼看adverb/verb | yǎn kàn | soon | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 眼神 | yǎn shén | expression or emotion showing in one's eyes |
| 亲眼adverb | qīn yǎn | with one's own eyes |
| 眼中noun | yǎn zhōng | in (sb's) eyes |
| 眼睁睁adverb | yǎn zhēng zhēng | to stare blankly |
| 眨眼adverb | zhǎ yǎn | to blink |
| 眼下 | yǎn xià | now |
| 眼熟adjective | yǎn shú | familiar-looking |
| 眼球 | yǎn qiú | eyeball |
| 眼皮 | yǎn pí | eyelid |
| 耀眼adjective | yào yǎn | to dazzle |
| 显眼adjective | xiǎn yǎn | conspicuous |
| 字眼noun | zì yǎn | wording |
| 眼罩noun | yǎn zhào | eye-patch |
| 眼镜蛇noun | yǎn jìng shé | cobra |
| 眼线 | yǎn xiàn | informer |
眼 appears in 115 compound words: 39 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 6 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 眼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (57)
to keep one's eyes open (idiom); to be on one's guard; to be clear-eyed
to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to gloss it over; to act dumb
to have one's jaws drop (often in a bad way); to be greatly surprised or astonished; to be dumbfounded
to keep one's eyes open (idiom); to be on one's guard; to be clear-eyed
to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to gloss it over; to act dumb
Showing 12 of 57 idioms containing 眼.
Example Sentences
眼睛是心灵的窗户，要好好保护视力。
Yǎnjing shì xīnlíng de chuānghu, yào hǎohao bǎohù shìlì.
The eyes are the windows to the soul; vision must be well protected.
眼镜店老板:钦佩神韵揭露迫害的勇气和智慧
yǎn jìng diàn lǎo bǎn : qīn pèi shén yùn jiē lù pò hài de yǒng qì hé zhì huì
Optical shop owner: Admire Shen Yun's courage and wisdom in exposing persecution
上海乐高乐园度假区首个春节表现亮眼,成亲子家庭出行..
shàng hǎi lè gāo lè yuán dù jiǎ qū shǒu gè chūn jié biǎo xiàn liàng yǎn , chéng qīn zǐ jiā tíng chū háng . .
Shanghai Legoland Resort's first Spring Festival performance is eye-catching, and parents and children travel as a family:
“贵州烟火气·黔味中国年”天眼纪录·回家|开往春天..
guì zhōu yān huǒ qì 黔 wèi zhōng guó nián tiān yǎn jì lù huí jiā kāi wǎng chūn tiān . .
"Guizhou Fireworks and Qianwei Chinese Year" Tianyan Record Home|Drive to Spring:
新冬能·场外音丨陆玮鑫:冬奥会需引入“鹰眼挑战”系..
xīn dōng néng chǎng wài yīn 丨 lù 玮 鑫 : dōng ào huì xū yǐn rù yīng yǎn tiāo zhàn xì . .
New Winter Energy Off-Site Sound丨Lu Weixin: The Winter Olympics need to introduce the "Eagle Eye Challenge" system:
点亮中国红!英国地标伦敦眼披上中国春节装扮
diǎn liàng zhōng guó hóng ! yīng guó dì biāo lún dūn yǎn pī shǎng zhōng guó chūn jié zhuāng bàn
Light Up China Red! London Eye Dons Chinese New Year Decorations
我能看一眼那本杂志吗？
Wǒ néng kàn yīyǎn nèi běn zázhì ma?
Can I have a look at the magazine?
你的眼睛为什么那么大？
Nǐ de yǎnjing wèishénme nàme dà?
Why are your eyes so big?
那位戴眼镜的男士是谁？
Nà wèi dài yǎnjìng de nánshì shì shéi?
Who is that gentleman in spectacles?
你找到你的隐形眼镜了吗？
Nǐ zhǎodào nǐ de yǐnxíngyǎnjìng le ma?
Did you find your contact lenses?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 目 (eye) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 眼 (yǎn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 眼 and 很?
How many strokes does 眼 have?
What is the radical of 眼?
What are the components of 眼?
What are common words containing 眼?
Is 眼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 眼 with real-time feedback
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